Meyler admits ‘the penalty killed it’ as Kiely hails his side
AS HE takes his seat in the media room and contemplates a second consecutive AllIreland semi-final defeat after twice sweeping through Munster, it’s put to Cork manager John Meyler that it would be an understatement perhaps, to suggest he is gutted.
‘Yeah, it is an understatement. The fact that we were six points up in the 62nd minute and failed to close out the game was a critical point.’
Therein lay the kernel of an incredible game in keeping with the greatest hurling Championship ever witnessed, Limerick pegging Cork back from that point and scoring two goals in injury-time to settle it.
Meyler took issue with the lead-up to Limerick’s first goal, scored by Cian Lynch, just before half-time but he admitted the impact off the bench of players like Shane Dowling was critical.
‘Their goal... I don’t know, was Kearney going down on the ball? We possibly could have got a foul there. Limerick drove on. You had Casey and Dowling come in and they made a massive contribution, in terms of driving Limerick forward.
‘In extra-time there was a point in the game, but the penalty killed it. Again, they drove on. Pat Ryan got their third goal. They [Limerick subs] made a massive contribution there in the end.
‘When I spotted Dowling and Casey coming on, I thought we were in the ascendancy at the time, we were six up. We were going well. Then, they came in and they added to Limerick. We had an opportunity. Robbie [O’Flynn] went in. He lost his hurley. He gave it to Seamie [Harnedy], Seamie was blocked. They are the decisions that are critical, at this level. The fact, also, that we didn’t close out the six-point lead.
‘We came up short. I’m not making excuses; I’ve never made excuses. If you draw a Leinster final, you get a replay. You draw an All-Ireland semi-final at full-time, you don’t. They are the rules and we just have to play to them. We were extremely competitive for the 70 minutes, we just lost our way for those two minutes. Limerick drove on.’
That block on Harnedy from Nickie Quaid — the goalkeeper flicking the sliotar away at the vital moment in injury time and with the side’s level was vital as Limerick manager John Kiely admitted: ‘It was incredible, I don’t know how he got around to it and got a touch on the ball.’
Another key moment came when the management called on Shane Dowling to go for broke from a penalty in the second period of extra time, at a time when Limerick held a slender one-point lead.
‘You had to, you’ve to go for it,’ explained Kiely. ‘With Shane Dowling and Aaron Gillane on the field, why not? Shane is a brilliant ball striker, and one-on-one with a keeper you’d fancy him all day long. He stuck it fantastic.’
He said it was a great feeling to be able to look forward to an All-Ireland final on August 19 against either Clare or Galway.
‘Yes, absolutely. We’ve worked hard. I think we’ve earned our place there. It’s up to us now to go away and get as prepared as we can to be the best team we can be in three weeks’ time.’
Hannon traced the origin of their journey to an All-Ireland final to a specific point last winter. ‘Probably back at the start of November and we did a boxing fundraiser and we kind of went at each other on the night of it and it just built morale and built a bond that hasn’t been broken this year.’